Game show host Alex Trebek recently updated fans about his fight against Stage 4 cancer. Trebek, who’s the long-time host of the quiz show Jeopardy!, says he has good days and bad days, but is overall positive about his diagnosis.
Game shows had their heyday in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, though “Jeopardy!” has been going strong for 35 seasons.
Trebek has always been featured as the host, though the original version ran from 1964 to 1975.
As the years have gone on, Trebek seems to have gotten funnier and wiser in his responses and comments with the players. The show has gone on to win 33 Daytime Emmy awards, so there’s no stopping its popularity.
Besides “Jeopardy!,” literally no other game show should be on this list more than “The Price Is Right.”
Bob Barker was the host for what seemed like forever. It was common to see audience members dressed up in wacky costumes for a chance to get up to the front and bid on what they think is the cheapest price of ketchup. The show is now hosted by the chipper Drew Carey.
“The Dating Game” lived on in syndication for years, beginning in 1965. Revivals ran through the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.
The Dating Game had future celebrities as guests, like Farrah Fawcett, Suzanne Somers and Tom Selleck.
There were even more famous faces, some of whom were already making it big, like Michael Jackson, Ron Howard, Sally Field and Paul Lynde.
Before there were dating apps, sexting and texting, there were dating game shows like “The Love Connection.”
With this show, originally hosted by Chuck Woolery, staff would shoot video of guests describing what their perfect guy/girl would be. The audience would vote on who would be the best match.
Then they would go out on the date, and return to the show to say whether they hit it off or if they hate each other. The episodes where the couple really, really didn’t get along were kind of the best episodes.
“The Gong Show” of course featured that giant gong that the panel of celebrity judges would hit once a particularly terrible act was performed.
The show was famously hosted by Chuck Barris from 1976 to 1980 and was revived in 2017 with Mike Myers as the host, which makes perfect sense.
“The $10,000 Pyramid” was the original game show with the giant glittery pyramid of categories. One person had to guess a word or phrase based on clues by the other, and as the game went on of course the stakes went higher as the pyramid neared the top.
Dick Clarke was the star host. No one else has come close.
“Hollywood Squares” was always a fun time because celebrities would sit in these little boxes and spout off jokes and offbeat comments that often got big laughs.
John Davidson helmed the show in the ’80s.
“The Match Game” laid its bets on fill-in-the-blank questions to double-entendre-type answers that would get huge laughs.
The show, which originally aired from 1962 to 1969, was hosted by Gene Rayburn.
“Let’s Make A Deal” was hosted by Monty Hall, the guy with one of the most game-show-host names ever.
Hall and Stefan Hatos produced the show, in which traders, or members of the audience, would have to determine whether a product or thing had any value while not knowing what it was.
The show also had “zonks,” items that had no value to the trader. This was another show where people would dress up in zany costumes to stand out from the crowd and be noticed by the host.
